> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.arc.cdata.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# fileWrite

> Writes encoded data to a new or existing file, with control over write mode (truncate or append) and character encoding.

Write encoded data to a new or existing file.

## Required Parameters

* **file**: The full path (including the filename) of the file to write to. If the file does not exist, it is created.
* **data**: The data to write to the file.

## Optional Parameters

* **force**: Controls whether the operation creates missing directories in the path set in the file parameter. The allowed values are `true` and `false`. The default is `true`.
* **mode**: The mode of writing. The allowed values are `truncate` and `append`. The default is `truncate`, which overwrites the contents of the file if the target file already exists.
* **encoding**: The encoding to use when creating the file. The allowed values are determined by your JVM/OS. The default is `UTF-8`.

## Output Attributes

* **file:file**: The full path of the file written to.
* **file:cdate**: The modified date of the file.

## Example

```xml theme={null}
<!-- Setting the target file, mode and data on the input item. This example pulls data from existing message headers to append to a csv file. -->
<arc:set attr="input.file" value="/tmp/orders.csv"/>
<arc:set attr="input.mode" value="append" />
<arc:set attr="input.data">[header:orderno],[_|now('MM-dd-yyyy HH:mm')],[header:itemsku],[header:itemqty]\n</arc:set>

<!-- Calling fileWrite and passing in the input item -->
<arc:call op="fileWrite" in="input" out="result">
  <!-- Optional: Logging information about the modified file to the application log -->
  <arc:set attr="_log.info" value="The [result.file:file] file was updated at [result.file:cdate] with a new order."/>  
</arc:call> 
```